Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, has won the “Best Islamic Index Provider” award constituted by Islamic Finance News.

The selection for the award was made by a record 1,502 Islamic finance professionals worldwide.

The Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes seeks to measure the global universe of investable equities that pass screens for Shari’ah compliance.

The Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes combine Islamic investment principles with Dow Jones Indexes’ objective, transparent and rules-based methodology.

“This award acknowledges our achievements and dedication to provide the most comprehensive, reliable and established family of Islamic indexes, said Michael A. Petronella, president of Dow Jones Indexes.  

The Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes were the first to measure the performance of stocks and bonds that comply with Islamic investment principles, and we remain committed to further developments in this area,” Petronella added.

The Islamic indexes seeks to measure the global universe of investable equities that pass screens for Shari’ah compliance.

“The award also recognises Rushdi Siddiqui, our director of business development for the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes. Over the past nine years, he has truly pioneered our efforts to elevate the Dow Jones Islamic Market indexes into the widely-accepted
and successful benchmarks for Islamic portfolios that they are today.”

The Dow Jones Islamic Market Index family includes over 70 regional, country and industry indexes derived from the flagship Dow Jones Islamic Market World Index.

In 2006, the index family expanded to include the Dow Jones Islamic Market Sustainability Index, which combines Islamic investing principles with sustainability criteria; Dow Jones Citigroup Sukuk Index, the first index to track Islamic bonds; and Dow Jones Islamic Market BRIC Equal Weighted Index, which tracks Shari’ah-compliant stocks in Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Islamic blue-chip indexes for Sri Lanka, Dubai and China and Hong Kong were launched last year.

A six-member supervisory board of Islamic scholars also counsels Dow Jones Indexes on the Shari’ah compliance of eligible stocks for the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes.

There are currently more than 60 licensees with $5 billion in assets benchmarked to the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes.-TradeArabia News Service